outdoor photography

Bronzed Cowbird On March 16, three Bronzed Cowbirds were reported at Newton Park by Lake Apopka in Orange County.  I drove out there early the next morning to see if I could find them.  They were still there and very cooperative. There are two bridges right near the parking area, and the birds seemed to like the trees and grass between the two bridges. The moved around a fair amount, but they were pretty easy to find. Bronzed Cowbird I believe they are still there--at least someone reported them there yesterday.

Shiny Cowbird For me, 2015 was a fantastic year of birding.  I've been doing this a while now, so gone are the days when I get 70+ lifers per year.  New birds are fewer and farther between for me, but that adds to the challenge.  And I've begun focusing more on county listing, which helps to keep things fresh.  This year, though, I benefited tremendously by one trip out west and two trips out of the country. These were not birding trips, but I had a little bit of time to at least check my surroundings to see what was available. Smooth-billed Ani I found 16 lifers on my visit to Antalya, Turkey White Stork  Eurasian Sparrowhawk  Laughing Dove  Eurasian Siskin  Common Buzzard  Eurasian Jay  Great Tit  White-spectacled Bulbul  Common Redstart  Black Redstart  Gray Wagtail  Common Chaffinch  European Greenfinch  European Goldfinch  Hooded Crow  White Wagtail Great Ti...

Bronzed Cowbird After finding our Burrowing Owls, we drove down to Miami-Dade County and stopped at a La Carreta Cuban Restaurant.  We didn't go for the food, though I would have loved to have tried the food there (I love Cuban food). We went to find cowbirds in the parking lot.  It wasn't long before we started finding them everywhere, usually hiding under the cars behind the restaurant.  At one point, two perched up on top of a car. Those were probably my best pictures, even if their setting is anything but natural. The sun captured the purple iridescence of one pretty well. Bronzed Cowbird Bronzed Cowbird  Here's my eBird checklist for the the La Carreta parking lot. The only other bird of any interest we saw here was a Monk Parakeet.